Tuesday, May 03, 2011

ALL DAILY DREAMKU, TANKA & PHOTOS BY ROSWILA POSTED IN APRIL 2011

I don't really know how to introduce this month's 'kus and pix. I guess the best I can do is say that this sample 'ku from April 6th probably expresses the on-going core experience beneath the entire month:

FACING UP

flexible white masks
let them express their feelings
for the first time ever
these faceless small aliens
in a sci-fi convention

I've never before felt so thoroughly that I don't know who I am (or even have been). Maybe this is not negative at all, but an opportunity. There are times when I feel privileged to have the time to go with all this intense "navel gazing." That a lot of gratitude is also called for.

ALL DAILY DREAMKU, DREAM TANKA, AND PHOTOS BY ROSWILA POSTED IN APRIL 2011

[PLEASE NOTE that in most browsers you can click on the image for a larger version.]

April 1, 2011

the souls of dead mice
till the dark earth
what will grow here?

[both the above photo and dreamku are a third posting, the most recent on September 29, 2010. Image by Roswila]

April 2, 2011

No dream recall, though I did wake up singing that old 50's song "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?" sung by the Shirelles. I chose this photo though simply because it put me in mind of what's been happening astrologically to the Moon these past several days -- lots of aspects to it in Aries, a fire sign. Image by Roswila.

April 3, 2011

she’s handicapped
they weave her into their
bright tapestry

[re-post of an old dreamku of 9-24-06. No dream recall for last night, so went through my oldest for one that resonates now. The photo above is brand new. Took it yesterday of a bloom on one of my favorite bushes on our grounds. A couple seasons back the massive bush was beginning to obstruct the corner it grows on, and was cut way back. Though I knew it would only come back stronger, it really hurt my heart to look at it all shorn and ragged. And now it's abloom, a green tapestry with blue-lavender highlights reaching toward the sun. It's blossoms are really up-ward pointing large cigar-like shapes. This picture was taken almost head-on. Image by Roswila.]

April 4, 2011

a load of lumber
tumbles off the train
moonlit yard

[re-post of an old dreamku of 11-8-06. Again no dream recall. Image by Roswila -- this photo is fuzzier than I'd ideally like, but night shots are chancy with my camera. I must also admit I almost like the wee bit of blurriness, it adds to the mood.]

April 5, 2011

HERE

the holocaust’s here
a radioactive wind
horizontal and sere
blasts through heavy metal
stacks among which I shelter

I cannot find my
small golden dog afterwards
I wander through the
littered and sudden silence
making kissing “come here” sounds

skittering across
a tumbled pile of papers
my furred companion

[two tanka and a dreamku on a dream of 4-4-11. Image by Roswila]

April 6, 2011

FACING UP

flexible white masks
let them express their feelings
for the first time ever
these faceless small aliens
in a sci-fi convention

[tanka on a dream of 4-5-11. Image by Roswila]

April 7, 2011

I can’t afford them
these practical beige suede shoes
she says they’re free and
the same as my pair ruined
by a sudden muddy flood

[tanka on a dream of 4-6-11. Image by Roswila]

April 8, 2011

NAKED NITRO

her rage has only one
burning focus: to stab me
super-smart mugger

I wrestle her to
a very scary stand-off
she agrees at last
to go with the police when
I say I’ll stay with her

but I quickly back off
and leave her to the police
when they arrive,
my warnings of how smart and
dangerous she is unheeded

she glares back at me
all I can think is she’s just
like naked nitro

[a dreamku, two tanka, and a dreamku on a dream of 4-7-11. Image by Roswila]

April 9, 2011

WOUNDING

kid napped by a man
the adolescent boy adapts
to life in the wild
somehow I know that he stabs
himself regularly

though I’ve not seen it
the fresh stab wound on his forearm
worries me deeply
it could become infected
so I ask if I can check it

the boy’s gentle confusion: which wound and where?

[two tanka and a monoku on a dream of 4-7-11. Image by Roswila]

April 10, 2011

he sneaks in the window
from the darkening yard outside
his huna punim

[dreamku on a dream of 4-8-11. I knew the man was half Hawaiian and half Jewish, and in my dreaming mind I jokingly thought, OK, he has a “Huna punim.” “Huna” – pronounced hoo-nuh – is a healing system said to be rooted in ancient Hawaiian Kahuna wisdom. “Punim” – said poo-nim – is Yiddish for face. Image by Roswila]

April 11, 2011

DANCING AROUND

he’s dressed for the show
and learned how to clog dance
he waits in the wings
as I approach and ask for
a little demonstration

his embarrassment –
I’d like to but can’t ignore
what I sense beneath it

[a tanka and a dreamku on a dream of 4-10-11. Image by Roswila]

April 12, 2011

all stores I was wont
to buy binge food in are closed
huge sighs of relief

friendly, both of them,
though I’ve known they don’t like me
for quite a long time
somehow I’m comfortable
with their changed demeanor

she and I discuss
an amazing sci-fi art book
our opinions
vary with no hint of conflict
or her usual disbelief

he joshes with me
and tells the tale honestly
to her much later –
what fun to be poked fun at
with no hidden malice

[three tanka on a dream of 4-12-11. Image by Roswila]

April 14, 2011

an AFV night
accidents, hits, and misses
in dream after dream

replays don’t work amusement goes on

[a dreamku and monoku on all dreams for night of 4-13-11. Re: the above photo. This toy was given to me by a friend, Nori, to remember her by, as she was just about to move into a hospice. I put it on the back of that chair when I got home, then tossed my baseball cap toward the chair. Voila! Aussie (the name she gave the koala bear) accidentally became my hat rack. I now deliberately put my cap (I almost always wear one) on his ear when I come in my room, and of course also always remember Nori and her infectious giggle. She passed away about two weeks ago. I think of her fondly every day. Image by Roswila]

April 15, 2011

AN UNFORTUNATE FETUS

several women
in a row give easy birth
the near-term fetus
of a grandmother is not viable
encircled by a force field

if born, the field will
keep the body within it
permanently dreaming
it will require constant and
complete life-long care

maybe a life of dreams
would not be an awful thing
for the dreamer
but it is decided not
to let the fetus go to term

the grandmother’s
given a shot that will help
her body reabsorb
all the elements of
this unfortunate fetus

[four tanka on a dream of 4-14-11. It was a busy night of dreams. This was the one with the most unusual imagery. Although one might think this is a sad dream, I’m not at all certain it is entirely. My gut is saying the birth imagery is really death. I’ve often thought of birth and death being pretty much the same thing; the difference between them being the directions we’re going in. Image by Roswila]

April 16, 2011

LAST MINUTE HUSTLE

just forty minutes
til my flight’s ETD
packing unfinished

way too much to do
sorting for future mailing
even takes too long

last minute hustle why do I do this

[two dreamku and a monoku on a dream of 4-15-11. Image by Roswila -- one corner of my old room; a very tiny portion of what I had to pack to move to the rooms I live in now]

April 17, 2011

CONFUSED

a woman I don’t know
stops and calls me by name
she clearly recalls
me and wants to reconnect
asking for my phone number

I can’t recall
my new cell phone number
she wants to write it
next to notes of a call I
made to her from France

I’ve never been there
it’s clear I’m being confused
with someone else
should I explain all this
or just connect with her

[three tanka on a dream of 4-16-11. Image by Roswila]

April 18, 2011

COMPOSED

his playing’s too soft
what I do hear is lovely
piano music

yes, I say, I know
piano means soft but we
would have liked to hear
especially as you composed
this brief and elegant piece

[a dreamku and a tanka on a dream of 4-17-11. Image by Roswila]

April 19, 2011

[No dream recall from last night. So thought I'd share a bit of what's blooming on our grounds right now. The rose garden is also popping. No matter my mood -- and even if I don't feel like snapping pix -- the few minutes I stand and gaze at beauties like this one are a gift. With these I especially enjoy the budding stage (one about to open in upper left and really new one on right edge). Then there's the translucency of the open petals and the shadows they make on each other. Not to mention those spectactular stamens. Image by Roswila]

April 20, 2011

UNDONE

writing new poems
I should be doing the work
left by my boss

over my shoulder
my boss-father sees I’m not
doing the memos
he left for me to type
I own up to this boldly

it doesn’t bother him
he just wants the memos typed
a grandma-woman
looks at his to-be-done work
what are these, she asks

old garnet earrings
tumble from his scribbled memos
I start to pick them up

[a dreamku, two tanka, and a dreamku on a dream of 4-19-11. Image by Roswila -- of the Poetry Nook in a hallway where I live; another poet, Susan, and I maintain it, varying the poems, toys, decorations, etc.; others are invited to participate, as well]

April 21, 2011

LOOKING UP

the two sisters are tall
I mean T-A-L-L tall!
six-four and six eight

I comment how I’ve
always liked my own long legs
but talk about legs!

I have to scurry
to keep up with them as we
walk beneath the El
six-eight’s vibrancy moves me
to ask how she maintains it

she smiles answering:
“It doesn’t matter to me
what others think”
here in her large shadow I
could almost not care, too

[two dreamku and two tanka on a dream of 4-20-11. Image by Roswila]

April 22, 2011

INTO THE WOODS

sending me ahead
to the woods with the others
he breaks into the
home he’d shared with his ex
at the forest’s edge

he drags various
pieces of his camping gear
outside to sort though –
what does he actually need
and how much can he carry

[two tanka on a dream of 4-21-11. Image by Roswila]

April 23, 2011

A PLEASURABLE PROPOSITION

only two now live
in this old Russian gulag
I offer them sex
the empty halls echo with
their manly murmurs and groans

[a tanka on a dream of 4-22-11. Image by Roswila]

April 24, 2011

KEEP ON TRUCKIN’

with a woman friend
next to me in the cabin
I drive the big rig
I pull over to the roadside when
hailed by another rig driver

his truck’s broken down
and he needs a lift to town
this tall dark stranger
who holds a book and pistol
as he awaits my decision

I don’t like the gun
but figure it’s for protection
while he’s on the road
I point him to our trailer
so he can get on board

the trailer’s empty
and almost shines it’s so clean
his look of surprise

[three tanka and a dreamku on a dream of 4-23-11. First HAPPY EASTER/EOSTAR! Image by Roswila]

April 25, 2011

THE AUDITION

young blonde and quite slim
I sing old rock ‘n roll songs
a much older man
from the show stands with me
holding lyric sheets I don’t need

a song I don’t know –
my good mood unpunctured
I fake it with style

[a dream tanka and a dreamku on a dream of 4-24-11. Image by Roswila]

April 26, 2011

APPEARANCE

his poem appears
in the daily newspaper
a full page display

his obituary?
no thank goodness, just deserved
recognition

but I still don’t know
what he and I are about
this work-in-progress

[three dreamku on a dream of 4-25-11. Image by Roswila]

April 27, 2011

needle stuck in a groove
or am I just not getting the message
scene after scene repeats

[dreamku on all dreams for night of 4-26-11. Yes, these lines are extra long. I feel like loosening up a bit and pushing the envelope (in this case, the syllablization :-D). Image by Roswila; we have a massive "crop" of these epithalium blooms this spring, also in a bright pink]

April 28, 2011

WEEDING

the young Japanese
women want me to teach them
how to weed crowded files
I go through bulging folders
of photos and esoterica

I learn as I teach
the young women appear grateful
for all my effort

[a tanka and a dreamku on a dream of 4-27-11. Image by Roswila; taken this past January right inside the front entrance where I live; when I realize all the cutting done to that tree I wince, however, most of the time I simply enjoy those long graceful curves]

April 29, 2011

UNMADE

calico tiger kittens!
each in turn ambushes me
from my unmade bed

“Shockmoonie beanie
beanie beanie bea--nie”
says the only leopard kitten
it teaches me the little dance
that goes with this rhythmic chant

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About Me

Retired, I'm grateful to indulge in daily blogging, taking digital photos, writing poetry every day, and other creative efforts as the spirit grabs me. I also enjoy reading my poems and sometimes improvising on one of the musical instruments in my collection (e.g. didjeridu or kalimba), in our retirement community's regular Talent Shows. And I also occasionally play a role in one of
our radio plays, written by a resident,
and read on stage as if an actual radio show.

"Ganesh dances joyfully,
each step out of now into now again;
each footprint filling to overflowing with kindness.
Remover of Obstacles, clear me out of my own way;
teach me how to dance lightly through life,
how to spill over with love." -- prayer by Roswila

"The hardest challenge is to be yourself in a world where everyone is trying to make you be somebody else." -- e.e. cummings (poet & painter)

"There's a thin line between dreaming and waking... The line is not hard and fast. It's more like passing through a waterfall. Really it's just a two sided organic system; on the surface individual blades of grass, underneath it's an intertwined mass of roots we can barely comprehend." -- As explained on the T.V. series FALLING WATER

"You're only paranoid if you're wrong." -- quoted in a play by Steven Dietz

"Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth." -- Pema Chodron

"The past is not dead, it is not even past." -- William Faulkner

"Art is the only way to run away without leaving home." -- Twyla Tharp (dancer/choreographer)

"Wisdom begins in wonder." -- Socrates

"Before the light which all things give off dies in the heart it must be expressed." -- Basho (haiku Master)

“The only normal people are the ones you don't know very well.” -- Alfred Adler

"For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert" -- attributed to Arthur C. Clarke (author)

"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." -- Richard Feynman (physicist)